Later this month Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats will be holding the first of several action days in Brent Central to help the excellent Ibrahim Taguri get elected.

We will also be doing everything we can to encourage party members to get out and secure a victory for Ibrahim in 2015.

On paper this may look like an uphill task – defending a wafer-thin majority against Labour in a highly multicultural seat. But it really isn’t, and here’s why…

Let’s tear up any assumptions that Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities are wedded to Labour. Historically the tendency to vote Labour has been out of necessity to ward off the Tory ‘nasty party’ and, to a lesser extent, the support of British trades unions towards independence movements in the former colonies.

Yet many from BAME communities are instinctively Liberal in outlook and on some issues socially Conservative. Any party that shows it understands the particular challenges BAME communities face, are serious about doing something about it, and also have a diverse selection of candidates, will get a fair hearing.

Some of our policies in Government have disproportionately benefited BAME communities, such as the raising of the tax threshold. And EMLD’s motion on education and employment, adopted at the Glasgow conference, give us an excellent starting point about what we can offer in the future.

There are smaller gains that are worth a mention too. It was Nick Clegg who stood up to Michael Gove to reinstate Mary Seacole, the Crimean war nurse, back to the national curriculum. And our communities minister Stephen Williams who is taking on Ofcom over the axing of the popular radio station Choice FM.

We need to go a lot further developing policies to combat race inequality, and we must not take our foot off the gas on BAME political representation either.

But we can knock on doors in diverse communities with confidence. We have a lot of positive things to say and a lot of connections to make between what we believe and what they believe.

Canvassing is but one element of genuine engagement. We must also go out to the community centres, youth clubs, churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras on a regular basis and have honest conversations.

Sarah Teather has been an excellent MP so the residents of Brent Central know Liberal Democrats work hard for them.

Labour, meanwhile, lazily assumes they will win back the seat simply by turning up. Taking the BAME vote for granted is precisely why BAME support for Labour has been going down at every general election.

Labour have also selected a candidate in Brent Central who is still remembered for her expenses claims and very little else.

By contrast, Lib Dems have a top candidate in Ibrahim Taguri. And I am confident the more he is introduced to voters the more they will warm to him.

* Issan Ghazni is Chair of the Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats and former National Diversity Adviser for the Liberal Democrats. Issan blogs here